Keeping Warm

Mist remembered a time from before.

She remembered the wilds, when she ran untamed and unstoppable with a herd. It had been… good, something she remembered fondly.

But it had been harsh and dangerous too. Always ensuring they could find food and water, always watching for predators and other dangers…

Winters, back then, had perhaps been the hardest. Food was scarce, predators were hungry, and nature itself often lashed at them with bitter winds or blinding snowstorms.

As the temperatures dropped during her first winter with the humans, with her new herd, she worried.

She had never known humans before she’d been taken from the world she’d been born to, and everything she’d seen suggested they were both more vulnerable than horses and extremely clever in how they dealt with challenges that could fell those without wits.

And then, one morning, her favorite human called her to the fence and fitted her with a blanket, checking that it rested properly before taking it off.

Mist was never one to be confined to a stall, always antsy when she was for more than a few hours. She could do it, when they traveled, but she didn’t like to.

So she was outside when the first snowfall of the year hit, nostrils flaring in frustration as she stamped her hoof.

There were no cliffs or heavy forest in the pasture to shelter her, though she knew in turn there was no need to fear she’d starve and struggle to find unfrozen water.

That didn’t ease her mind as the snow floated down around her in the late hours of the night into the early morning.

It was in the morning, though, that the humans brought first Valentine and then Blue Sky out to one of the smaller paddocks, before she was moved to join them, trotting to brush noses with the other mares.

She liked the others, but when she’d first come it had been the three of them.

That had never fully changed, even once she’d met the other horses that called the stable their final home.

Blue Sky whinnied, already dressed in a blanket while their handler brushed the snow from Mist’s coat as she settled with the other Loshenkas and got one of her own settled.

It was…

Definitely warmer.

“They said we’ll be sticking together,” Valentine murmured as the human departed, no doubt to fetch them breakfast and ensure the water troughs were filled with water and not ice. Even more so considering most of the grass was frozen now, even if it would still be easy to scrape through the thin layer of ground snow to graze.

“Oh?” Mist murmured, ear flicking in curiosity. The barn-dwelling horses often heard things she didn’t, and most were more than happy to fill her in.

Blue Sky nodded, pressing close the the husky mare’s side. “Mhm. Something about not wanting to coop you up too much and knowing that we’d be warmer together.”

“They say like they don’t usually turn us out during the winter,” Valentine added, almost amused. “They just don’t usually leave us out at night.”

“I doubt their resolve will hold if we get a bad storm,” Blue Sky countered.

Valentine shifted, huddling closer so that all three mares were not only bundled in blankets but sharing body heat.

It was comforting, Mist decided as she let her muscles relax.

“I doubt it too, but we’ll cross that particular trail when we get there.”

Mist couldn’t help but nod her agreement, watching the humans return with a bale of hay. “Looks like breakfast is here at least,” she added, nuzzling first Blue Sky and then Valentine before they moved as one towards the meal, much to the amusement of the bringers of food.